The C-2 Greyhound plane delivers mail, personnel, and other supplies from mainland bases to aircraft carriers at sea and was first deployed in the 1960s. The Navy decided in 2015 to buy long-range tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft to replace the aging carriers.

The fleet lost two of its main destroyers in separate incidents earlier this year. The USS John S. McCain collision near Singapore in August resulted in the death of 10 servicemen, while seven sailors died in the USS Fitzgerald accident near the coast of Japan in June. The USS Stethem lost a soldier at sea in early August.

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, A C-2A Greyhound from Fleet Logistics Squadron (VRC) 30 taxis on the runway after sailors from loaded it with meat, bread and plastic dinnerware November 9, 2010 at Naval Base Coronado in Sand Diego, California transferring the supplies to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. A C-2 Greyhound carrying 11 people crashed near Japan on November 22, 2017. Jeremy M. Starr/U.S. Navy/via Getty Images

Fleet commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin was subsequently dismissed from his role a few weeks before his planned retirement and Vice Admiral Philip Sawyer was appointed instead.

He removed four other officials from the chain of command: Task Force 70 commander Rear Admiral Charles Williams and Destroyer Squadron 15 commander Captain Jeffrey Bennett in September, and the commanding officer and executive officer of USS John S. McCain in October after an investigation found the crash was “preventable.”